A Sportbike from Harley

Cyber-whispers are making their way around the internet over a surprise addition to the American line-up of 2009 motorcycles from Harley-Davidson.

As with most of the interesting stories, it started with a posting on a blog and has gained some solid footing from a confirmation by another website. If the standards of reporting from the recent political election were to be followed, the story is as factual as they come.

Originally posted on Chopper Daves blog, an excited post announced the Harley-Davidson dealership in Westminster California was taking pre-orders for the XR1200. The website Autoblog, confirmed the offer with a telephone call to the dealership who reportedly said Harley-Davidson sent out an email over the weekend with news about the models availability in the United States.

The XR1200 is a version of its popular Sportster which was launched for (and until last weekend only available in) Europe. Featuring an air-cooled, modified 1203cc Evolution V45 engine, a larger air-box, downdraft fuel injection and a performance-biased exhaust system its considered by many as the closest Harley Davidson has come to making a sportsbike.

With the additional performance gained from this configuration, a plastic tank and the unique aesthetic look of the dulled silver, squared off engine, the XR1200 is a different and much anticipated addition to the Harley-Davidson line-up. Many were initially disappointed when it was originally decided the motorcycle would only be available in Europe earlier this year.

The good news of the XR1200 being made available in the domestic market does come with a caveat however. According to Harley-Davidson of Westminster’s website, only 750 will be made available nationwide at this time, with pre-orders being taken through December 15th and an expected delivery in February 2009. Would-be buyers can have any color as long as its orange and the answer to many performance riders dreams carries an MSRP of $11,179.

Harley-Davidson has yet to publicly confirm or deny the offer.

Adding rumors on top of rumors, supposedly the model will be more widely available next year in black as well as silver.

Industry experts often comment on Harley-Davidson’s ingenious marketing methods and if a whisper campaign was in fact the company’s true intention, it could be a bright spot in an otherwise challenging year.

Offering a limited number of models is a popular method for motorcycle manufacturers to create demand with the most recent example being Ducati and its racing standard replicas made available recently. If trends were to repeat themselves from that marketing campaign, Harley-Davidson could mysteriously find more motorcycles available if demand became frenzied enough.

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